1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates generally to a lithographic apparatus, and more specifically to a contamination barrier for passing through radiation from a radiation source and for capturing debris coming from the radiation source.
2. Description of Related Art
A contamination barrier for a lithographic apparatus is known from, for example, the international patent application WO 02/054153. The contamination barrier is normally positioned in a wall between two vacuum chambers of a radiation system of a lithographic projection apparatus.
In a lithographic projection apparatus, the size of features that can be imaged onto a substrate is limited by the wavelength of projection radiation. To produce integrated circuits with a higher density of devices, and hence higher operating speeds, it is desirable to be able to image smaller features. While most current lithographic projection apparatus employ ultraviolet light generated by mercury lamps or excimer lasers, it has been proposed to use shorter wavelength radiation in the range 5 to 20 nm, especially around 13 nm. Such radiation is termed extreme ultraviolet (EUV), or soft x-ray, and possible sources include, for example, laser-produced plasma sources, discharge plasma sources, or synchrotron radiation from electron storage rings. Apparatus using discharge plasma sources are described in: W. Partlo, I. Fomenkov, R. Oliver, D. Birx, “Development of an EUV (13.5 nm) Light Source Employing a Dense Plasma Focus in Lithium Vapor”, Proc. SPIE 3997, pp. 136–156 (2000); M. W. McGeoch, “Power Scaling of a Z-pinch Extreme Ultraviolet Source”, Proc. SPIE 3997, pp. 861–866 (2000); W. T. Silfvast, M. Klosner, G. Shimkaveg, H. Bender, G. Kubiak, N. Fornaciari, “High-Power Plasma Discharge Source at 13.5 and 11.4 nm for EUV lithography”, Proc. SPIE 3676, pp. 272–275 (1999); and K. Bergmann et al., “Highly Repetitive, Extreme Ultraviolet Radiation Source Based on a Gas-Discharge Plasma”, Applied Optics, Vol.38, pp. 5413–5417 (1999).
EUV radiation sources may require the use of a rather high partial pressure of a gas or vapor to emit EUV radiation, such as discharge plasma radiation sources referred to above. In a discharge plasma source, for example, a discharge is created between electrodes, and a resulting partially ionized plasma may subsequently be caused to collapse to yield a very hot plasma that emits radiation in the EUV range. The very hot plasma is quite often created in Xe, since a Xe plasma radiates in the Extreme UV (EUV) range around 13.5 nm. For an efficient EUV production, a typical pressure of 0.1 mbar is required near the electrodes to the radiation source. A drawback of having such a rather high Xe pressure is that Xe gas absorbs EUV radiation. For example, 0.1 mbar Xe transmits over 1 m only 0.3% EUV radiation having a wavelength of 13.5 nm. It is therefore required to confine the rather high Xe pressure to a limited region around the source. To reach this, the source can be contained in its own vacuum chamber that is separated by a chamber wall from a subsequent vacuum chamber in which the collector mirror and illumination optics may be obtained. The chamber wall can be made transparent to EUV radiation by a number of apertures in the wall provided by a contamination barrier or so-called “foil trap,” such as the one described in European Patent application number EP-A-1 057 079, which is incorporated herein by reference. In EP-A-1 057 079 a foil trap has been proposed to reduce the number of particles propagating along with the EUV radiation. This foil trap consists of a number of lamella shaped walls, which are close together in order to form a flow resistance, but not too close so as to let the radiation pass without substantially obstructing it. The lamellas can be made of very thin metal platelets, and are positioned near the radiation source. The lamellas are positioned in such a way, that diverging EUV radiation coming from a radiation source, can easily pass through, but debris coming from the radiation source is captured. Debris particles collide with gas inside the foil trap, are scattered thereby, and eventually collide with the lamellas and stick to these lamellas.
The lamellas, however, absorb some EUV radiation and heat. Moreover, they are heated by colliding debris particles. This results in significant heating of the lamellas and a supporting structure which supports the lamellas. Since optical transmission is very important in a lithographic projection apparatus, mechanical deformation is not allowed.